Unlocked phones — outside the shackles of the carriers and able to
work on any GSM operator worldwide — are finally starting to have their
moment in the sun.
And we're not just talking more expensive versions of top-shelf
phones. There are a number of mid-range unlocked phones that will serve
you very well — and not burn a hole in your wallet. Let's take a look.

The Breakdown

Motorola Moto G 2015

Easily the best bang for your 200 bucks

Solid, water-resistant design that's not too huge

“Pure” Android experience

A price you just can't beat

Not the highest specs

Good camera, but not the best available

No NFC

We hem and haw a bit over what the "best" Android phone is. We
might well have found it in the 2015 Moto G. It doesn't have the newest
specs. It's missing a couple ancillary features. (Mainly, NFC.) But for
about $200 — it starts at $179.99, but a $40 upgrade will double the
RAM, and we recommend doing so — you get full LTE data, a decent
display, and surprisingly good battery life. Plus it's Motorola's usual
"Pure Google" experience. It's got a few Motorola customizations, but
nothing we'd really consider "bloatware." It does everything you'd
expect a smartphone to do, without some of the hangups you'll find in
more bleeding-edge devices.
The 2015 model also includes a microSD card slot for expandable
storage, and you can purchase replacement shells to swap colors whenever
you want.
Put simply, you almost certainly cannot spend $200 and find anything better than the Moto G.

Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3

Big, vibrant, unlocked

Running Android 5.0 Lollipop

Large, 1080p display

Very good sound quality

Plastic phone is plastic

The camera won’t blow anyone away

Quite a bit of bloatware

Alcatel OneTouch set out to make a high(ish)-spec’d phone at an
affordable price. And it’s done just that in the Idol 3. It’s got a
large, vibrant display, good sound (with some help from JBL) and a
battery that should almost certainly get you through the day.
The Idol 3 is running Android 5.x Lollipop — not quite the newest
build, but it’s definitely not lagging behind. And the user interface
has a neat feature in which you can rotate it any direction and it’ll
still work.
For the $249 price, it’d be tough to go wrong with the Idol 3. It’s
comparable to the other top phones in this list — the question likely
will come down to one of taste.

ASUS ZenFone 2

A compelling, plasticky, unlocked option

Great specs and performance for the price

Excellent battery life

Loads of accessories

Camera performance is just OK

Speaker is weak

Plenty of software bloat

ASUS has jumped near the top of the list of unlocked phones to
consider, with the ZenFone 2 checking the boxes most people want. It has
a big 5.5-inch display at 1080p resolution, great performance thanks to
high-end specs and a pretty solid camera considering the price. You
also get a few extra perks like quick charging, an SD card slot, a big
battery and dual SIM slots (though only one can be used for 3G/LTE).
The software takes a little time to get used to, you’ll need to
uninstall lots of unwanted apps and the screen isn’t the best out there,
but those are small marks against a device that otherwise offers a
great value.
The starting price of $199 for a model with solid specs is very
appealing for those looking to pick up an unlocked phone on a budget,
but if you can spring for it we recommend the $299 model. You’ll get
double the RAM and four times the storage — 2GB and 64GB, respectively —
as well as a slightly faster processor and a quick charger in the box.
But no matter the model you choose, you’re getting a solid unlocked
experience for an affordable price.

OnePlus 2

Never settle — except settle

Excellent hardware design

Quality fingerprint sensor

Available with 64GB of storage

Invite system means no instant purchase

No NFC

No wireless charging

As sophomore efforts go, OnePlus has done well to create a
device that improves upon its predecessor in nearly every way. The
aluminum band around the outside of the phone gives the OnePlus 2 a
sturdy heft, and the ability to swap backplates means you can have grip,
style, or durability with ease.
OxygenOS is a new Android fork, but like Cyanogen OS before it the
focus is a clean, fast experience with a UI that closely resembles the
Nexus experience. What few changes you find are subtle, visually
pleasing, and often easy to disable if you decide it's not for you.
At $389, OnePlus has struck an interesting balance between
performance and price. While it doesn't have every bell and whistle
you'd see in a high-end smartphone, the OnePlus 2 is more than capable
when it comes down to performance and battery life.
(Ed. note: The OnePlus 2 makes this list based on our initial
hands-on impressions with the phone. We'll have more in-depth thoughts
on the OnePlus 2 in the coming weeks.)

Huawei P8 lite

Good phone, bad software

Solid hardware design

Good post-sale customer service

Decent specs

Running old version of Android

No idea when it’ll be updated

Off-putting user experience

Huawei has finally decided to make a proper push into North
America with the P8 lite. It’s got decent specs for a phone that tops
out at $249. The 5-inch display is only 720p, but it’s decent enough.
And Huawei has some great post-sale support going on, with U.S.-based
call centers and support, a two-year warranty and localized repair with
free shipping.
The problem with the P8 lite starts and ends with the fact that it’s
running Android 4.4.4, which is absolutely not acceptable at this point
in 2015 — especially given that the big brother to this phone has
Android 5.0.

Motorola Moto Style (aka Pure Edition)

A promising update awaits us

Great starting price

Custom design options

Front-facing speakers

Body is a good deal bigger now

No wireless charging

Untested camera

Motorola's made one of the more beloved (if imperfect phones) of
the past few couple years. The 2015 edition — the Moto X Style, or the
"Pure Edition" if you're in the U.S., also looks to be a good one. But
the body of the phone has gotten even bigger, approaching Nexus 6 size.
That's going to be a deal-breaker for some folks. But Motorola has
slipped an SD card slot into this phone, which opens it back up to many
other folks.
We've also got dual front-facing speakers this time around, and
Motorola promises we'll be impressed with the camera this year, after
two years of disappointments (and more promises). We'll just have to
wait and see.
So far the Moto X Style (when it's released sometime in September)
will only be available in the U.S. through Motorola, Amazon and Best
Buy. (Outside the U.S. is another story, but usually a better one, too.)
Price starts at $399.
(Ed. note: The Moto X Style (Pure Edition) makes this list based on
our initial hands-on impressions with the phone. We'll have more
in-depth thoughts in the coming weeks.)

Sony Xperia Z3 Compact

A strong, svelte but aging option

Svelte design

Impressive camera

Excellent battery life

Getting up there in age

Hard to find, and expensive when you do

Lot of software you might not need

The Xperia Z3 Compact is one of the first “mini” models that
kept the same strong internal specs of it’s bigger siblings. That makes a
big difference when it comes down to actually using your phone.
Besides delivering the same performance of it’s big brother the
Xperia Z3, it keeps the same external styling. Glass all around, a
camera button, water and dust “proof” are some of the reasons why we
love Sony’s Xperia line.
One thing to consider when buying the Z3 Compact is that you’re
getting last year’s specifications. This won’t mean much in the long
run, but having a 32-bit processor could cause issues during the phone’s
normal lifespan. There are also a lot of apps and Sony software that
you might not need or ever use on board.

Nexus 6

Nexus goes big

Always on the latest version of Android

No bloatware

Huge display

Huge display

Battery life can be tricky

No microSD card, if you’re into that sort of thing

We we reviewed the Nexus 6 we sort of pegged it as a larger Moto
X, minus most of the cool software tricks. And while that largely
remains true, the Nexus 6 remains a must-have phone for the most hard of
the hard-core Android fans. And it’s still a pretty good purchase,
especially as we’ve seen it get hit with discounts of late.
The Nexus 6 is still a very large phone, however, and that’s going to
be a turn-off for some. But then again it’s also one of two phones
running the Android M Developer Preview. So while maybe it’s not as
commercially viable a phone as Google might have liked — low Android
Lollipop adoption numbers have spoken to that — you could definitely do
worse, especially since it’s ready for T-Mobile or AT&T out of the
box.

HTC One M9

Another solid but imperfect effort

Mostly great software

Excellent build quality

Timely updates

Disappointing camera

No wireless charging

UI is looking stale

HTC’s long been a fan-favorite smartphone manufacturer, but it
immediately found itself on the defensive with the M9 because of
concerns over the new Snapdragon 810 processor and an underwhelming
camera. That combined with an overall design that to many was too much
like 2014’s M8, and HTC’s been playing catch-up this year.
That’s not to say there’s not a lot to like about this phone. The
build quality is excellent, as is the speed of the software. You can’t
beat the BoomSound front-facing speakers. And HTC’s new “Uh Oh” support
gets you a free replacement for breakage, or $100 off your next HTC One.
And HTC is one the only manufacturers to offer proper unlocked models.

Criteria

Price

More so than when you buy a phone on-contract from a carrier, price
is a major consideration when buying an unlocked phone. There's no
carrier here subsidizing the cost to a more palatable $200 or $100 or
even free — you're paying for the entire phone up front when you buy
unlocked. Of course, that gives the a measure of freedom to do with your
phone as you want that you can't get from your carrier, but a phone
that's $200 from your carrier could run you $600 unlocked. There are a
lot of unlocked phones, including many on this list, that simply aren't
available from your carrier, and often times they offer competitive
specs and builds to the higher priced phones at a much lower price.

Display

Displays on smartphone today are almost universally good, and you
won't be disappointed by the screen on any of these phones. A larger
screen will be better for gaming and watching movies, while those that
spend their time browsing and networking (or just have cramped pockets)
might appreciate a smaller phone. A bigger screen does mean it'll draw
more power, but we're at the point today where the extra battery you get
in the larger footprint equals extended runtime as well.
There are all sorts of other factors that go into a screen, including
the kind of screen it is. Smartphone displays today are predominantly
IPS-LCD and AMOLED, and each has their strengths and weaknesses when it
comes to contrast, color representation, brightness, and outdoor
performance. But really, you just want one that looks great to you.

Software

While we're focused on Android here, it's worth noting that there are
other platforms, namely Apple iOS and Windows Phone. iOS only comes on
iPhones, and Apple's happy to keep it that way. With it you get a
platform that is simple and straightforward to use at the expense of
some customization choices, and you can be assured that a new iPhone
today will get iOS updates for years to come.
Windows Phone offers a completely different take on the user
interface of a smartphone, focusing on "tiles" that let apps display far
more data than a mere icon could ever hope to manage. Windows Phones
work seamlessly with the Microsoft ecosystem of hardware, software, and
cloud products, and will do so even more tightly when Windows Phone 10
is released.
The leader in the unlocked phone space is Android. Created by Google
and available to all manufacturers free of charge (with Google's apps
too, if they agree to some stipulations), Android offers both device
makers and users practically unlimited customization choices. The side
effect is that users are largely dependent on the manufacturers to offer
updates for their devices, which is never guaranteed.
All platforms cover the basics, which are becoming increasingly more
impressive with things like voice control and predictive assistants
considered par for the course these days. They all have burgeoning
application stores that offer apps free and paid (though iOS and Android
have a considerable lead over Windows Phone in this department).
Which you choose comes down to a variety of factors, including
whether or not you like how the system operates. Sometimes it comes down
to just what you're comfortable with, and there's nothing wrong with
buying the next generation of a platform simply because you liked the
older one you already had.

Battery

Considering that the battery is what provides the juice to make all
of the smartphone work, it's worth considering the power cell inside
your phone to be an important feature. Typically a bigger battery is
better, though a larger battery does pack on the bulk. How you use your
smartphone will affect the kind of life you get out of it, so what gets
you through the day with no problem might not be adequate for a heavier
user. Screen, processor, or radio-intensive activities like gaming,
streaming music, or watching videos will drain you battery much faster
than lighter fare like social networking and web browsing.
Most
newer devices are designed to make it through a day of typical
use, but if you're a heavy user you might find yourself reaching for a
power cord before the day is done. There's plenty you can do to extend
your daily battery life, from turning down the screen brightness to
topping off the battery when you get the chance (this is especially easy
if your phone supports wireless charging). We’ve got plenty more
battery-saving tips which should help you prolong your phone's battery
life regardless of which one you pick up.

Camera

The saying has always been that "the best camera is the one you have
on you", meaning that it doesn't matter if you have a nicer camera if
you don't have it with you to capture a fleeting moment. For a long time
that meant people carried around a standalone camera, and some still
do, but for the vast majority of people their smartphone camera has
become more than good enough to manage these duties (better than many
pocket cameras, in fact).
There are megapixels (more equal a dimensionally larger image),
apertures (lower numbers mean a larger opening, which lets in more light
for better low-light images), sensor sizes (the size of the physical
chip that collects light that passes through the lens), and more that go
into determining how good your photo will turn out. If you're a serious
photographer, there are certainly smartphones that will be up to the
challenges you'll through at it, but if you're just throwing photos onto
Facebook and Instagram, most any modern smartphone will do. Take a look
at our photography hints and tricks guide to amp up your phone photos game.
Up front on most every modern phone you'll find a front-facing
camera, increasingly branded as a "selfie" camera. You can, naturally,
use it to take photos of yourself ("selfies", in the common tongue), but
they're also useful for features like video chat.

Support

Going unlocked means you need to do a little bit of research — not
every phone will work with every carrier. (Though a magical few do.) If
you're a U.S. shopper, you won't be able to use any of these unlocked
phones on Verizon, Sprint, Boost Mobile, Virgin Mobile, and other
CDMA-technology networks (though compatible versions of some are offered
by the individual carriers). And while things are getting better in
this department, not all unlocked phones support the full range of carrier frequencies,
you'll want to be sure that the phone you're looking at will work with
the carrier you want to use. That said, the benefit of an unlocked phone
is that you generally have your choice of carriers. Many lower-cost
smartphones also don't include 4G LTE, so you'll find your download
speeds limited in comparison to the higher ends of unlocked smartphones.
Another thing to consider is that you'll be without support from your
carrier on issues with the phone itself. They'll still happily help you
with your service, but they're not likely going to offer support to a
smartphone they didn't sell you.

Bottom Line

By no means is this a conclusive list of all unlocked smartphones,
Android or otherwise, these are just those that are among the best
available. They span the range of prices and are all generally capable —
you wouldn't go wrong buying any of these phones. And though there's a
bit of hassle with going unlocked, you'll also be entering a world of
flexibility and choice that's simply not available from your local
carrier store.